Let'sGoZips94

Central is not a good team. They've taken advantage of the weakest MAC I can remember to put themselves in 3rd in the conference, but their record is 12-9 (5-7 outside the MAC) and rightfully so. - 10 pt loss to the Fighting Terry Bowdens (ULM) - 10 pt loss to the Fighting Corey Klubers (Stetson) - 27 pt loss at the Suckeyes (nobody should lose to this Suckeyes team by 27) - 45 pt loss to Creighton (the loss isn't bad, but a 45 pt deficit is embarrassing) - 73-35 loss to the Fighting Sister Jeans (Loyola Chicago) - 12 pt loss at home to Buffalo (who just lost by 30 to PCCC) I don't want this to be a close game.

Dare I say that was Groce's best regular season win as the Zips head coach? - Freeman finished with 20 & 14 in only 26 minutes due to foul trouble. That's simply amazing. Another MAC POTW coming his way. - Ali Ali really stepped up with Freeman's limited minutes. Very efficient 26 point performance by him. - Despite Freeman only being on the floor for 26 minutes, we still out-rebounded Toledo 39-31. Impressive effort on the boards. - Big night from Dawson, shooting 40% from 3 with a 14 pt performance. Needed that. - Don't love Hunter being completely MIA, and it's odd that Tribble wasn't a go-to on offense. - Toledo had all 5 of their starters in double digits for scoring. Their bench added on a whopping 4 points. If that's the type of performance they get from their bench on a consistent basis, I'm not worried about them in March. - Only 13 minutes for Thornton was head-scratching. I figured he would've been a staple in the lineup for his defensive prowess.

Greenwood and David seem like terrific gets, no?

According to ESPN, the attendance was 3151. @clarkwgriswold Who won Mr. Wilson?

3276 announced.

GameDay. Primetime. The Deuce. Regular season MAC title on the line - this is like Kowalchoke's National Championship. Go Zips!

I specifically said losing MAC programs. Toledo and Ohio do not fit that category. How Kowalchoke failed to win the MAC Tourney with a top 10 team's starting PG is actually impressive.

I don't want players from losing MAC programs. Thornton is an upgrade over Hankerson, but we need to look elsewhere in the TP, please.

I'm assuming it has to do with head-to-head vs common opponents. Toledo's loss is to CMU whom we haven't played yet. Akron's lone loss is to Miami whom Toledo beat.

Wouldn't that be something? The Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse would be the cleanest it's been in a long time for the MAC tourney if that were to happen. Fans wouldn't have that distinct PCCC stench to deal with.

Nothing like hyperbole to get the clicks. Nice dunk; far from "insane".

If the ESPN Box score is correct, the Best In the MAC Chris Payton didn't start, and finished the night on the bench after fouling out with 3 pts, 7 rebounds, and 3 turnovers. What an absolute stud.

They had signs with Evan's face on them that read "The Band Doesn't Forget."

Napoleon Dynamite just checked in for EMU.

Prather is in!

You should've seen the beginning of the game when he said that and not even 2 seconds later they cut to the opening tip off and all you see are green seats.

If Eastern keeps shooting like this, they're going to have to change their name to Miami (MI) with all these bricks.

We should see Prather tonight. That's exciting.

I think the "X Factor" on this team is Tribble. It may not be from beyond the arc, but when this team needs a jolt offensively, the ball goes in his hands and he dribble penetrates with a floater or draws a foul. We did not have this level of Tribble in previous seasons.

I think there's something to the Baker discussion. Everything I saw from his highlights was he could play every position on the court (except maybe PG), including being a bruiser/banger down low. This team can win a March Madness game. They were within a basket of beating a top 20-30 team in Utah State, and another basket away from beating UNLV. Those were without Ali Ali. Almost this exact team was a minute away from beating UCLA 2 seasons ago. We don't have anybody like X2.0 this year, but Freeman is undoubtedly better and we'd probably get more from Ali Ali this time around. Have faith. 😉

(Ignore the quote) The tallest player on Groce's OU teams was 6'8"-6'9"; his system does not call for a 6'11"-7' big. The flaw in recruiting last year was not having a replacement for Ali Ali's versatility, and the flaw in recruiting this year was not having a guard who can shoot the lights out to replace X2.0. Thornton is not a shooter. Scott is warming up but still not filling the shoes of X2.0. Tavari is not a shooter. Prather is non existent. Tribble is Tribble. We have one of the best front court players in the country on a team that would probably only have 2-3 losses on the season if it weren't for the NCAA's stupidity. As Aaron Rodgers once said... R-E-L-A-X.

When pigs fly, it will happen. The MAC prestige that was built up through the 90s/early 00s is gone as our commissioner clutches his "tradition" pearls.

I like both Scott and Thornton. I think they both fill voids on this team that would otherwise be felt without their presence. Quite frankly, we have too many misses occupying scholarships from previous classes. Lyles and Prather especially, but also Tavari to an extent. It's always going to hurt when you have 2 scholarship players beyond their first year who are either struggling to contribute or not contribute at all. It's not as much an issue of missing talent that isn't on the roster; it's about the talent on the roster being missing.

You're going to see more and more teams play Enrique Freeman how Miami did. I mentioned it earlier, but bringing the help against Enrique from the weak side is genius and is really going to cause problems for us unless Groce makes adjustments. The 2010 Akron Men's Soccer team lost to Cleveland State. It refocused them and they won the National Championship that year. Praying this is our Cleveland State.

He was huge for Cleveland State when they had their little run in the Horizon a few years back.